At the Grange

Now that we’re running up to the holidays in earnest, I’m expecting fewer and fewer sales on the weekends. Last week’s three day blowout may have been the icing on the 2011 cake. So this Saturday when I saw a Craigslist ad for a flea market being held in the grange hall of a small town about 20 miles east of Salem, I knew we had to go.

Do you see what’s on that hill? Yup, snow! The seasons sure are different when you move a thousand miles north!

The parking lot was packed, the grange was toasty warm, and full of people. About 25 folks had tables set up, pretty much the kind of wares you’d see at garage sales. Makes total sense if you live out in the country to have your sale this way. We made our way down the aisles, chatting with a few sellers. I glanced at a vintage book on Danish silver, and commented to the seller on how cool some of the pieces in the pictures were. He said something like he wished his grandparents had left him some, but what can you do when they pass away before you ever get a chance to meet them. I summoned all my tact and did not say that this probably was not by their choice!

At the end of the room I paused at a table with hundreds of small round objects. Little turkeys, snowmen, reindeer and other seasonal motifs gazed up at me. Looking closer I realized these were wrapped chocolate-covered mints, each decorated with a paper cutout.

I asked the lady if she had made them all, and she said she sure had. She said some of them are cut out with a punch, but some she cuts out freehand. The amount of work she has put into them amazed me – and they were twenty-five cents each. I bought a few of the turkeys. How could I not? This lady cut out 5 layers of tail feathers for each one, and varied the order of the colors from mint to mint, and cut out and glued on tiny triangles for the beaks – and then drew on the eyes and details with a pen. I gave a couple to my friend Diana on Sunday, and she immediately held them up to see how they’d work as earrings.

Not bad actually – but probably would work better without the mint!

On the last row, a couple of ladies were sharing a long table. The older one had a few pieces of vintage china . when I asked about them she laughed and said she knew they were old because they were given to her about fifty years ago, and she wasn’t going to say how old she was at the time.

I seem to like Winfield china! This is the third time I’ve bought some. I wish I knew if it’s safe to actually bake in a casserole dish like this. Or to bake custard in the adorable small lidded bowls? (Missing one lid, dang it.)

The other lady at this table had mostly Christmas items. In the box of quarter stuff I found this.

  

Hand painted egg! Rooster! Love! And we really need something Oregon-ish on our Christmas tree, right? What could be more Oregon than this?

  

When we left the nice warm grange hall and headed out into the chilly November day, we decided to drive through town rather than just turn around and go back to the highway, since we’d never been here before. Around a bend in the road we found a thrift store and went in to peruse. I live in hope of finding another fabulous piece of MCM furniture everywhere I go. Didn’t find anything…but I wish I was still young enough – and small enough – to use this.

It’s called a Pogo Pony, apparently came out in the late Sixties. I bet there were some scarred hardwood floors in the homes that had these puppies! The ads for it said it could gallop, trot, canter, even back up and turn, and the spring-feet actually leave the floor. It must have been a really fun toy. Of course, any kid who had one today would probably be required by law to wear a helmet to ride it!

If I may veer for a moment into shameless self promotion, I’ve got several auctions running this week on eBay, including those Vera napkins some of you like. Auctions end the day after Thanksgiving – please take a look!